Ligers, Tigons, and Other Hybrid Mammals A Summation and Critical Appraisal of Mammalian Hybrids

About this book

In Ligers, Tigons, and Other Hybrid Mammals, the renowned zoologist, prolific writer and lecturer, Clinton Keeling, discusses, in his own inimitable and lively style, the often controversial subject of mammal hybrids.

The original typescript was found among the author's possessions when he died and the decision was made to publish. Updated to take account of recent changes in animal classification, with the addition of a table of first and early breeding records for mammal hybrids in captivity in the U.K., Ligers, Tigons, and Other Hybrid Mammals provides an essential introduction to a fascinating subject.

Today, responsible zoos concern themselves, quite rightly, with the preservation of pure-bred animals, but it wasn't all that long ago when crossbreds between two or more species were exhibited quite often. Sometimes these hybrids were produced by accident, the result of unplanned couplings, and at other times intentionally. Many are quite surprising.

If hybrids are currently out of fashion in modern zoos, there is one subject that is even more taboo: the nightmarish possibility of a hybrid between a human and another species of great ape. After discussing other mammal hybrids, from marsupials to monkeys and apes, Clinton Keeling turns his attention to our own species and examines the evidence for there having been human hybrids, and considers whether such an aberration is possible.

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